Appendix D: Qualitative Research Instruments: Introduction Letter for Qualitative Recruitment

1) For main stakeholder contacts:

Hello,

Elections Canada is in the process of conducting research to better understand electors' experiences during a federal election. The results from this research will be used to help Elections Canada design and implement more user-centric programs and services that are easy to use for all electors across Canada.

We are reaching out to ask for your support in sharing this research participation opportunity, in order to ensure that this research captures the experiences of underserved populations in Canada. More specifically, we are hoping to reach [number of desired participants] people who are: eligible electors (at least 18 years old and a Canadian citizen), and [insert group here]. Please ensure that the individuals you are reaching out to are not leaders working within your organization, but are among those that your organization serves.

The commitment would involve a telephone interview that would take approximately 30 minutes of their time. Upon completion, participants will receive an honorarium of $100.

Your support on this would be very much appreciated. If you know individuals who would be interested, you are welcome to forward them the attached email template, but please note that we are looking for a limited number of participants this time around and once we have this number of participants, we will unfortunately not be conducting any more interviews. Feel free to adjust the template as you see fit.

If you have any questions about this research, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Thank you very much.

2) For stakeholder networks–to be shared with potential participants:

Hello,

Elections Canada is looking for participants as part of research they are conducting to better understand electors' experiences during a federal election. The results from this research will be used to help Elections Canada design and implement more user-centric programs and services that are easy to use for all electors across Canada.

In order to understand the challenges and barriers facing underserved populations, Elections Canada is looking for people to participate in this research who are eligible electors (at least 18 years old and a Canadian citizen) and [insert group here].

This research will be conducted by Environics Research and would involve a telephone interview that would take approximately 30 minutes. Upon completion, you will receive an honorarium of $100.

Please note that we are looking for a limited number of participants this time. Once we have around [number of desired participants] participants, we will unfortunately not be conducting any more interviews.

Also note that your participation is voluntary and completely confidential. All your answers will remain anonymous and the information provided will solely be used to contact you for the interview.

If you are interested in participating in this study or if have any questions, please contact Sarah at Sarah.Roberton@environics.ca.

Thank you in advance for your participation.